Beating Hearts
by suspensegirl
Summary: DB - just some POST-BOOK love fluff. ONESHOT!


A/N: So, I got caught up in Julian/Penelope again (XD), but BEFORE that happened (lol) I was falling in love with Daniel & Bea again! =) There was just such an emphasis on Clara & Daniel in the beginning of the book and then just when Daniel & Bea were happening, Zafon totally plunged us deep into the tragedy of Julian & Penelope. But Daniel & Bea really are so amazing too. *nods* They're like Julian & Penelope, but not as…complicated and tragic. Heh. In fact they have a beautiful happy ending! =D Anyhow, this fic is just a oneshot…just something fluffy after they got married. ;D Review!

*The Julian in this story refers to Daniel & Bea's son, not the Julian Carax from earlier on in the novel.

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Her eyes glittered as she helped Julian adjust his jacket, so he could go outside and play with his friends in the cool autumn air. She tossled his hair about a bit, slipped a hat on top of his head and kissed his cheek before pushing him gently out the door. I chuckled a little to myself as Julian wiped his mother's kiss off his cheek and said good-bye to her just as he left the house.

Bea turned to me, obviously hearing my quiet laughter from across the room. My breath was stolen away and I immediately closed the book I had been skimming through and set it back on the shelf. She quirked an eyebrow towards me and eyed me tauntingly.

"Something funny?" she asked.

"Not at all," I said, sliding the book back onto the shelf just to the right of me. I watched her curvy form as she walked towards me and slipped her arms around my neck. Instinctively my hands settled around her waist.

"He's growing up," she said.

"He's twelve," I acknowledged. She nodded, smirking and looking towards the book shelf I'd just abandoned, spotting instantly the book which I had been flipping through. She traced her fingers along the worn binding and then laid her head softly on my chest. She sighed, slipping her arms down to my lower back.

"It's been awhile since you read it, hasn't it?"

I nodded. "Yes, well, I've been occupied," I murmured, kissing the side of her face. She smiled. Her fingers wrapped around the fabric of my shirt and I ran one of my hands up the side of her waist.

"That is no excuse, Mr. Sempere," she said in a deep voice, "You must learn to multi-task!"

I stilled myself and my eyes narrowed in skepticism. She brought her face back and looked at me for no more than a few seconds before she burst into giggles. I smiled wildly at her in return, feeling myself the luckiest man alive. I just watched her as she laughed and then as she wrapped her arms back around my neck and pulled me in for a few quiet, soft kisses. She smiled against me and nuzzled her face against my own. I sighed contently.

"You're pretty lucky, you know," she smirked, pulling me over to one of our couches in the sitting room, by a window overlooking the front yard, by the short collar of my shirt.

"Don't I know it," I murmured, watching her body as it swayed back and forth before we arrived at our destination. She plopped down on the couch and when I sat down I pulled her to me. I took her hand and moved my fingers through hers, still in awe of how soft they were. After all these years, her beauty never faded, even if I hadn't expected it to. She was only twenty-nine.

I heard her sigh. "I love you," she said, looking on at how I played with her fingers. I smiled softly as I looked back up at her. It was all she needed to know I felt the exact same way. She shifted and settled her head just beneath my chin, taking my other hand in her own and playing with it as well. Tingles shot through me when she spun my wedding ring about my finger.

"Have any new books come out?" she asked suddenly. I sighed, almost upset that the intimate moment has been broken. I refocused my attention back on the question. We had been given sole control over my father's bookshop, but I knew she was not referring to just any new books that had happened to be delivered that afternoon, or even that week.

"No," I shook my head.

"You don't think he's…?" she turned her head to look at me. My eyebrows narrowed and I worried for a moment at the thought she had not vocalized.

"No," I said finally. "He wouldn't give out so easily, especially when he's been so revived by you, my dear." I pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she settled back in against me.

"You shouldn't give me so much credit," she said, fiddling again with my wedding ring. "If you hadn't kept his damn book to begin with, none of this would have happened." I smirked, unwilling to let her be right, though pleasuring in the fact that her words rang true on whichever angle you looked at them.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me, Bea," I said, loving the feel of her smile shining against my neck. She turned around and slid herself onto my lap, putting her hands into my hair and smiling sincerely at me. I was awestruck. I always was by her. Clara was beautiful and unattainable and my first love, whether I admitted to it out loud or not. I think Bea knew this. But nothing I had ever felt for Clara, let alone the initial lust from Nuria Monfort, could compare with what I felt every day wrapped up in Bea's arms.

"I love you," she said again. Her smile followed her as she traced the outline of my shirt down the front of my chest and lay her head down on it. "But you're just trying to get out of doing dishes," she smirked. I laughed out loud, and the rumble of her light laughter mixed with my own made us both a little giddy.

"Never," I said finally, once we had settled down. "You really are." My face nuzzled up against hers and I kissed her, full and passionate and full of warmth. She sighed into my mouth and I felt I had never been happier in my entire life. I seemed to be feeling this way with every new moment with Bea.

"Do you remember the first time?" she asked. My heart beat rapidly at the question. I wished for the life of me I could remember all the details of our first time together, drenched with rain, ridiculous letter burning in the fire, and her giving herself to me as if she was inevitably bound to do so, and with such desire too.

"Horribly well," I said. She gaped and then pushed at me, clearly a little embarrassed for bringing it up. When she went to stand up, I pulled her back down to me.

"Let me go, Daniel Sempere," she teased, though I could easily see the hidden bit of hurt beneath her words. "I've had enough poking fun at for one day."

"It was when I first knew I was in love with you."

Her attempts to flee settled and then became nonexistent with the sweet words that I had whispered into her ear. She turned to me. "You burned my letter," she smirked. I smiled wide.

"I couldn't let you go," I said, and that made her eyes glitter almost as much as when she was dressing Julian for the outdoors. Then, just looking past my adoring eyes, she spotted Julian and one of the neighbor boys out on the front lawn staring in at us.

"Daniel!" she smacked at my chest, instantly rising to her feet as if caught. I followed the movement, shaking my head at the return of her little embarrassment. I had to hold back the laugh that was gurgling in my throat at the look the two boys outside were giving us.

"Come on," I murmured into her ear, pulling her arm with me in a different direction. "Let's give them something to really wonder and gape about."

"Daniel!" she squealed, unable to hide her slight horror mixed with excitement at the thought. I wouldn't have torn mother and son away for the life of me. They were so very close and to have that kind of connection with my own mother, I would have done anything. So, I let them be. But Bea was my light too, and Julian was occupied.

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A/N: Aww, cute little fluff! Hehe. Review! :D


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